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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News
Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-KRp
MANILA (SDN) — Privatizing the operation of the Hajj, the Pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, as well as Umrah, always has its two sides, and built-in pros and cons.
One of them, observers from Muslim communities in Metro Manila pointed out to SDN — SciTech and Digital News, is that lack of government supervision may result in jacking up of the religious journey’s costs. Another is it would be difficult for government agencies, such as the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), to look after the welfare of pilgrims.
Increasing the cost of pilgrimage under a private sector-controlled operation, both, or either, of Hajj or Umrah by private individuals, could make the role of the NCMF irrelevant and helpless in protecting the interest and welfare of pilgrims, they believed.
Umrah is already a private operation since 2013, NCMF-National Capital Region Regional Director Dr. Dimapuno Alonto Datu-Ramos, Jr., said, meaning the Muslim Commission has no hands in it, neither any direct dealings with pilgrims. Which leaves them at the mercy of any unscrupulous Umrah private operators.
And, as the NCMF-NCR’s report shows, the privatized Umrah has now reared its ugly head.
Datu-Ramos’s NCR Office has already reported to NCMF Secretary Sabuddin Abdurahim the complaint of 240 intending pilgrims for Umrah this year.
He (Abdurahim) “was also informed about the complaint, and he had instructed the NCMF-NCR staff to provide full assistance to the clients despite the Umrah being completely privatized since 2013.”
Datu-Ramos said the Umrah operation was given to the private sector because sheikhs (those who lead pilgrims to Mecca) asked for its privatization.
As far as the NCMF-NCR regional director’s post on his Facebook page, here’s how he learned of the complaint of the “victims”.
He said he “received a phone call from a pilgrim complaining about the fraudulent activity of ‘Sheikh X’ which victimized around 240 Muslim Filipinos intending to perform the Umrah this December 2024. Sheikh X and his associates collected roughly 240 million pesos from the pilgrims but failed to provide the services.”
Later, Datu-Ramos said representatives of 27 those involved went to the NCMF-NCR to seek legal advice and assistance in preparing the demand letter and for subsequent steps, adding the letter was handed in person on Monday, December 23, to the sheikh.
After meeting with the “victims”, Datu-Ramos reported the allegedly “fraudulent” Umrah transactions to Abdurahim, prompting the latter to instruct the NCMF-NCR to assist the pilgrims.
Datu-Ramos said the pilgrims were stranded in Metro Manila.
The NCMF-NCR head said the regional office is now studying the filing of a case through its Legal Affairs Division under lawyer Jamael Batugan against the “sheikh” (pilgrim’s leaders) in relation with the “complaint lodged by Muslim Filipinos allegedly defrauded by a sheikh organizing the Umrah.”
Batugan told the clients of the NCMF-NCR, said Datu-Ramos, the case “will be endorsed to the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) since it is considered as a grand scale estafa, a non-bailable personal crime. Punishment if found guilty is life imprisonment.”
Here’s from Datu-Ramos’ narration:
He said the client of NCMF-NCR related that the group intending to perform Umrah, the minor pilgrimage, “were able to pay the ticket, hotel and other Umrah related fees, in the amount of Php150,000 per person, to the sheikh.”
Datu-Ramos, as told by the client of the office narrated that they already struck an agreement with the sheikh to whom they paid the cost of the religious journey “that they will travel on December 20, 2024, for the Umrah. However, no ticket was provided to any of the complainants.”
As a result, he said further, complainants were left stranded and have to fend for themselves, forced to stay in various hotels around Metro Manila, while others opted to buy new plane tickets to Saudi Arabia. He added that as a result the pilgrims will have to book their hotel accommodation personally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He recalled that some private agencies and sheikhs requested the government in 2012 to privatize Umrah operation.
“This led to the Hajj being under the NCMF-Bureau of Pilgrimage and Endowment (BPE), while the Umrah was completely privatized and controlled by the sheikhs and their associations,” Datu-Ramos said.
Meanwhile, the Umrah case of the 240 pilgrims which he described as “fraudulent” got him worried about the privatization as well of the Hajj, the major pilgrimage, with a bill already approved in the third and final reading in the House of Representatives and its counterpart in the Senate filed by Sen. Robin “Abdulaziz” Padilla.
“With the current case,” Datu-Ramos expressed his concern “that similar or worse scenarios will result if Hajj privatization occurs due to the potentially limited control of the NCMF over the sheikhs and travel agencies.
His apprehensions on what might happen if Hajj gets privatize prompted him to advise others pilgrims to proceed to the NCMF-NCR office if victimized by unscrupulous Umrah organizers.
In a related development, a lawyer from the Lanao provinces also reported on his Facebook page that, “Just this week, 26 of my relatives got scammed” by another relative whom they paid Php3.2 million for Umrah only to find out when they arrived in Manila that the sheikh did not buy them tickets for Saudi.”
The lawyer said what his relative did “involves public interest,” that’s why he posted it on social media.
It appears the 26 scammed pilgrims are part of the 240 that the NCMF-NCR reported to the NCMF’s Abdurahim. (♡))